McCain Strips Convention to Bare Essentials, Pending Gustav

Speaking via satellite on the eve of the Republican National Convention, John McCain said at a press conference at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul this afternoon that the majority of convention events and activities will be cancelled so as not to distract the nation’s attention from the potentially devastating landfall of Hurricane Gustav.

“We’re going to suspend most of our activities tomorrow except for those are absolutely necessary,” said McCain, speaking from St. Louis to a room full of reporters from a flat-screen television on a stage.

Referring to Gustav as “great national challenge” McCain briefed the reporters about his talks with Gulf State governors and said, “I have every expectation that we will not see the mistakes of Katrina repeated. In fact,” he said, “I am optimistic.”

Because of the potential loss of life and property, McCain said, “Of course this is a time when we have to do away with our party politics,” and called on Republicans to "take off our Republican hats and put on our American hats,” an adjustment which included making donations to potential victims of the storm.

“We will act, we will act, together,” said McCain. “We will provide the necessary relief.”

McCain made it clear that he intended, or at least hoped, to attend the convention himself, but it was not entirely clear that he would do so.

“I can hardly wait to get up there,” he said.

Rick Davis, McCain’s campaign manager, provided further details about tomorrow’s schedule, which would include the bare minimum of events legally required by the party to nominate McCain and Sarah Palin as his vice president, and would last from 3:00 pm to 5:30 pm. Davis refused to speculate about anything after tomorrow.

He said that tomorrow’s meeting would include the reaching of a quorum on the floor, which is to say a half plus one of the party’s delegates, and the day’s proceedings would be adjourned “as soon as practical,” at around 5:30 pm. After that, he said, the campaign and party leadership would observe how events unfolded in the Gulf. “We will not be performing the roll call tomorrow, we will be looking for an opportunity to do so.”

He added, “Tomorrow’s program will be business only and we will refrain from any political rhetoric that would be traditional” on the opening day of a convention. He said that he expected to find a way for all the scheduled speakers to speak, but would not speculate whether the convention would need to be extended to fit them all in. (President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney will not be speaking tomorrow, as had been originally planned.)

Davis echoed McCain in suggesting that some of the fund-raisers gathered here in St. Paul could turn their attention to the Gulf to help any potential victims of the hurricane.

Davis too expressed confidence that McCain would eventually show, saying, “This is the culmination of a political career” and “a hard-fought primary” so the presumptive nominee will do “everything he can” to attend the convention.